Flipkart to Close eBay.in – To Launch New Platform for Refurbished Goods

Flipkart will shut down eBay.in, which it had been operating for the last one year, and eBay is expected to relaunch in India shortly. This is as per a report in the Economic Times.

In May, eBay had said that it had decided to end its strategic partnership with Flipkart and relaunch eBay India with a differentiated offering to focus on cross-border trade.

Bangalore-based Flipkart will launch a new platform to sell refurbished goods, said chief executive Kalyan Krishnamurthy in an email to employees on Monday.

“Based on our learnings at eBay.in, we have built a brand new value platform launching with refurbished goods — a large market which is predominantly unorganised,” the email said. “With Flipkart’s customer base, and F1 Info Solutions & Services in our group portfolio, I believe that we can solve the key barriers to refurbished — trust & convenience — at scale.”

In April 2017, Flipkart announced that it had raised $1.4 billion from global technology majors eBay, Tencent and Microsoft. In exchange of an equity stake in Flipkart, eBay had made a cash investment of $500 million and sold its eBay.in business to Flipkart. By August 2017, Flipkart had said that it had completed the merger with ebay India’s operations. This is as per an ET report on 1st August 2017.

In May 2018, eBay had said that it had decided to end its strategic partnership with Flipkart and relaunch eBay India with a differentiated offering to focus on cross-border trade. “Following the close of the transaction, we also will be ending our current strategic relationship with Flipkart, which includes unwinding our commercial agreements with Flipkart and terminating Flipkart’s license to use the eBay.in brand,” eBay had said in a statement earlier.

As part of the launch of the new website for refurbished products, the company will be stopping all customer transactions on eBay.in on August 14, 2018 to transition to the new platform. “Our endeavour will be to ensure that all the eBay.in sellers and customers migrate to the new platform over time with a remarkably enhanced experience,” Krishnamurthy added.

The new platform has a different value proposition compared to Flipkart, and will cater to a different target audience. “We are committed to investing in this independent brand,” he said.

eBay entered the Indian market in 2004 and began operations through the acquisition of News Corp-backed Bazee. com, but struggled to make a mark in a market dominated by Flipkart and Amazon India.

The company also picked up a significant stake in Delhi-based online retailer Snapdeal in 2013 and eventually wrote down a $61 million investment in the e-tailer in February this year.